Campfire Philosophy

The indisputable reality of flickering flames.

Even though I hold a degree in philosophy and have read hundreds of religious and philosophical tracts since my college days, what little insight I have into the nature of things has come to me during excursions alone in the wild, usually while sitting before a campfire. Here are a few samples, derived from the field journal I keep while tramping in Vermont’s Green Mountains, or in places indicated otherwise.

September, 1988. Pinneo Brook

Why do we have to work so hard to be happy? I wander the woods all day when I could be lounging around the house. Why? Because the clean air makes me feel so good? Because I need exercise? I don’t know — I really don’t. But even now as I scribble, I feel a certain sadness. Always, during every solo backpacking trip, there comes this moment. Sadness as a reprieve from so much happiness? The sadness of fatigue, perhaps? Or of solitude? No, something else — something to do with life itself. Out here, everything is stripped down to bare essentials. Even feelings.

July, 1992. The Endicott River Wilderness, Southeast Alaska

I’ve spent too much time trying to figure out why the world is the way it is and not enough time living in it. A part of me…